Greetings to All on the PIC list:

        I noticed that the 16F84 is now listed in the Digikey catalog and is pri
ce
competitive with the 16C84. I have the following questions:

        1) Since the 16F84 uses FLASH  as opposed to EEPROM for program code
storage does the F84 support a significantly larger number of
re-programming cycles before failure?

        2) As the F84 offers a little more RAM and is about 20% lower in cost th
an
the C84 I wonder if I should switch over to the F84 for future projects.
Seems like you get more for less. Are there any applications where the C84
would be a better choice over the F84?

        3) Will my existing COM84 PC serial port programmer also work for the F8
4?
If so is there a new software package needed for programming the F84?

        4) Are there revised public domain versions of MPASM and MPSIM available
from MicroChip to support the F84?


        Many thanks in advance to all that respond with helpful information!

Very Best Regards,
Thomas M. Alldread
e-mail: tmaldred@mail.comox.island.net